The emergence and spread of Christianity. The emergence of Christianity Stages of the formation of Christianity as a state religion

Orthodox countries make up a large percentage of the total number of states on the planet and are geographically scattered throughout the world, but they are most concentrated in Europe and the East.

There are not many religions in the modern world that have managed to preserve their rules and main dogmas, supporters and faithful servants of their faith and church. Orthodoxy is one of these religions.

Orthodoxy as a branch of Christianity

The very word “Orthodoxy” is interpreted as “correct glorification of God” or “correct service.”

This religion belongs to one of the most widespread religions in the world - Christianity, and it arose after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the division of churches in 1054 AD.

Basics of Christianity

This religion is based on dogmas, which are interpreted in the Holy Scriptures and in Holy Tradition.

The first includes the book of the Bible, consisting of two parts (New and Old Testaments), and the Apocrypha, which are sacred texts that are not included in the Bible.

The second consists of seven and the works of the church fathers who lived in the second to fourth centuries AD. These people include John Chrysostom, Athanasius of Alexandrovsky, Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great, and John of Damascus.

Distinctive features of Orthodoxy

In all Orthodox countries, the main tenets of this branch of Christianity are observed. These include the following: the trinity of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), salvation from the Last Judgment through confession of faith, atonement for sins, incarnation, resurrection and ascension of God the Son - Jesus Christ.

All these rules and dogmas were approved in 325 and 382 at the first two Ecumenical Councils. proclaimed them eternal, indisputable and communicated to humanity by the Lord God himself.

Orthodox countries of the world

The religion Orthodoxy is professed by approximately 220 to 250 million people. This number of believers is a tenth of all Christians on the planet. Orthodoxy is spread throughout the world, but the highest percentages of people who profess this religion are in Greece, Moldova and Romania - 99.9%, 99.6% and 90.1% respectively. Other Orthodox countries have a slightly lower percentage of Christians, but Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia and Montenegro also have high percentages.

The largest number of people whose religion is Orthodoxy live in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Middle East; there are a large number of religious diasporas throughout the world.

List of Orthodox countries

An Orthodox country is one in which Orthodoxy is recognized as the state religion.

The country with the largest number of Orthodox Christians is the Russian Federation. In percentage terms, it is, of course, inferior to Greece, Moldova and Romania, but the number of believers significantly exceeds these Orthodox countries.

• Greece - 99.9%.
• Moldova - 99.9%.
• Romania - 90.1%.
• Serbia - 87.6%.
• Bulgaria - 85.7%.
• Georgia - 78.1%.
• Montenegro - 75.6%.
• Belarus - 74.6%.
• Russia - 72.5%.
• Macedonia - 64.7%.
• Cyprus - 69.3%.
• Ukraine - 58.5%.
• Ethiopia - 51%.
• Albania - 45.2%.
• Estonia - 24.3%.

The spread of Orthodoxy across countries, depending on the number of believers, is as follows: in first place is Russia with the number of believers 101,450,000 people, Ethiopia has 36,060,000 Orthodox believers, Ukraine - 34,850,000, Romania - 18,750,000, Greece - 10,030,000, Serbia - 6,730,000, Bulgaria - 6,220,000, Belarus - 5,900,000, Egypt - 3,860,000, and Georgia - 3,820,000 Orthodox.

Peoples who profess Orthodoxy

Let's consider the spread of this belief among the peoples of the world, and according to statistics, most of the Orthodox are among Eastern Slavs. These include peoples such as Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. In second place in the popularity of Orthodoxy as a native religion are the South Slavs. These are Bulgarians, Montenegrins, Macedonians and Serbs.

Moldovans, Georgians, Romanians, Greeks and Abkhazians are also mostly Orthodox.

Orthodoxy in the Russian Federation

As noted above, the country of Russia is Orthodox, the number of believers is the largest in the world and extends over its entire large territory.

Orthodox Russia is famous for its multinationality; this country is home to a large number of peoples with different cultural and traditional heritage. But most of these people are united by their faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

To such Orthodox peoples Russian Federation include the Nenets, Yakuts, Chukchi, Chuvash, Ossetians, Udmurts, Mari, Nenets, Mordovians, Karelians, Koryaks, Vepsians, the peoples of the Komi Republic and Chuvashia.

Orthodoxy in North America

It is believed that Orthodoxy is a faith that is widespread in the Eastern part of Europe and a small part of Asia, but this religion is also present in North America, thanks to the huge diasporas of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Moldovans, Greeks and other peoples resettled from Orthodox countries .

Most North Americans are Christians, but they belong to the Catholic branch of this religion.

It's a little different in Canada and the US.

Many Canadians consider themselves Christians, but rarely attend church. Of course, there is a slight difference depending on the region of the country and urban or rural areas. It is known that city residents are less religious than country people. The religion of Canada is mainly Christian, the majority of believers are Catholics, followed by other Christians, and a significant portion are Mormons.

The concentration of the latter two religious movements is very different from region to region of the country. For example, many Lutherans live in the maritime provinces, once settled there by the British.

And in Manitoba and Saskatchewan there are many Ukrainians who profess Orthodoxy and are adherents of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

In the United States, Christians are less zealous, but, compared to Europeans, they attend church more often and perform religious rituals.

Mormons are mainly concentrated in Alberta due to the migration of Americans who are representatives of this religious movement.

Basic sacraments and rituals of Orthodoxy

This Christian movement is based on seven main actions, each of which symbolizes something and strengthens human faith in the Lord God.

The first, which is performed in infancy, is baptism, which is carried out by immersing a person in water three times. This number of dives is done in honor of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This ritual signifies a person’s spiritual birth and acceptance of the Orthodox faith.

The second action, which occurs only after baptism, is the Eucharist or communion. It is carried out through eating a small piece of bread and a sip of wine, symbolizing the eating of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Confession, or repentance, is also available to the Orthodox. This sacrament consists of confessing all one’s sins before God, which a person says before a priest, who, in turn, absolves sins in the name of God.

A symbol of preserving the resulting purity of the soul that was after baptism is the sacrament of confirmation.

A ritual that is performed jointly by two Orthodox Christians is a wedding, an action in which, in the name of Jesus Christ, the newlyweds are given farewell to a long family life. The ceremony is performed by a priest.

Unction is a sacrament during which a sick person is anointed with oil (wood oil), which is considered sacred. This action symbolizes the descent of God's grace on a person.

The Orthodox have another sacrament that is available only to priests and bishops. It is called priesthood and consists of the transfer of special grace from the bishop to the new priest, the validity of which is for life.

Literature: Chadwick; Walker; Schmemann, The Historical Path; Bolotov.

Christianity spread with extraordinary speed in Syria and to the northwest - into Asia Minor and Greece. As it spread to the northeast, it had to cross imperial borders and language barriers.

The Kingdom of Edessa, or Ozroen, was outside the Empire until 216. Its population spoke the Old Syriac (or Syriac) language, which was one of the dialects of Aramaic. The educated inhabitants of Ozroen knew Greek. A Christian community was formed in Edessa in the 2nd century. Its most famous member, Vardesan, was a friend of King Abgar (Abgar) IX the Great, whom he converted to Christianity. Thus, Ozroen became the first state in the world to officially adopt Christianity at the end of the 2nd century.

Vardesan was a cultured man and a classic poet of Syrian literature. He was the first to invent versification for the Syriac language and composed 150 hymns based on the model of the Psalter, which were even used in church services until in the 4th century. were not replaced by the hymns of St. Ephraim the Syrian.

Before his conversion, Vardesan was an expert astrologer. Apparently, until the end of his life he never completely outlived his former hobbies. His poetry and philosophical writings show a strong Gnostic influence. And although he energetically opposed the spread of Marcionism in Edessa, the Antiochians considered him a very suspicious person.

Later, Syrian Christians such as St. Ephraim the Syrian (306-373), considered Bardesan a dangerous genius. To combat his influence, which was enormous in Edessa, around 200 Serapion, Bishop of Antioch, consecrated the Edessian Palutas bishop of Edessa. At first, Palut led only a small community, but after Edessa entered the Roman Empire, the Palutans were able to prove to their fellow citizens that it was they, and not the Vardesanites, who were in communication with the great sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Rome. Gradually they drove out the followers of Vardesan.

In the 3rd century. In the Church of Edessa, a legend spread that it was founded by one of the 72 disciples, Addai, sent by Christ to Edessa in response to a letter sent to him by King Abgar (Abgar) the Black (9-46 AD). They even showed Jesus' response promising that Edessa would never be conquered. The correspondence between Christ and Abgar became a folk amulet: words from it were inscribed on houses to protect themselves from evil. The earliest surviving examples of this inscription, dating from the 5th century, were discovered in Asia Minor. The conquest of Edessa by Rome and its incorporation into the Empire brought one major change to the lives of the Mesopotamian Christians: although they had early Syriac translations of the four Gospels (these were made around 150), they began to use Tatian's Diatesseron. Only in the IV-V centuries. The Diatesseron was replaced by the standard Syriac version of Scripture Peshitto(Peshitta), i.e. “simple”, “correct” translation. Its time of origin is unknown, but we can say with confidence that after the Septuagint it is the oldest biblical translation.

Apocryphal writing of the 3rd century. The Acts of Thomas reports on the spread of Christianity not only in Persia, but also in India, on the Malabar coast. However, we know practically nothing about early Indian Christianity.

But still, the main direction of Christianization went to the West.

The fact that the Apostle Paul chose the direction to Italy and further to Spain turned out to be fateful for the future identification of Christianity with European culture. At the time of the writing of Romans, there was already a significant Church in Rome. The spread of Christianity among other Italian cities soon followed. In Pompeii, destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79, the following square-shaped inscription was found:

If these letters are rearranged in a certain way, you get PATER NOSTER. Thus, it is very likely that this is a Christian cryptogram, and therefore there could have been Christians in Pompeii before 79. By 250 Italy there were about 100 episcopal sees.

IN Gaul, Britain and Spain Christianity spread more slowly. Christianity may have been brought to Gaul by the disciple of the Apostle Paul, Criscentus (2 Tim. 4:10). In the II century. V Rhone Valley there was a rapidly growing community of Greek Christians with connections to Asia Minor. Their center was the Church of Lyons, headed by a bishop, and a missionary community, led by a deacon in Vienne. They suffered greatly from persecution in 177 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Soon after this, the active penetration of Gnostic teachers into Gaul began, which forced St. Irenaeus to write his famous book. St. Irenaeus preached not only in Greek, but also in the Celtic (Galic) dialect, so the evangelization of the local population began. By the beginning of the 4th century. there were already bishops in Arles, Vaison, Autun, Rouen, Lutetia (Paris), Bordeaux, Trier and Reims.

It is not yet known when Christianity reached its shores Britain. Tertullian and Origen talk about the penetration of the Gospel even to the distant barbarian British shores, but this is probably a rhetorical exaggeration, and it is unlikely that there were significant communities there before the middle of the 3rd century. It is to this time that the martyrdom of St. Albania - the first British martyr and also the first British Christian known to us by name. In many ways, the story of his martyrdom has become overgrown with later legends, but the fact that it is based on real facts is certain.

In 314, at the Council of Arles there were 3 bishops from Britain - from London, York and Lincoln. At the Arian Council of Rimini in 359 there were several British bishops. We know that three of them were too poor to pay for their journey, but apparently the rest could still afford it.

Under the rule of Constantius, the father of the future Emperor Constantine, the Christians of Britain and Gaul suffered little during the great persecution. Archaeologists who carried out excavations discovered small basilicas in a number of places dating back to the 4th century. By 400, on the eve of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, Roman Britain was a highly Christianized province of the Empire, with Christianity very widespread among the local population. The first famous British theologian was the monk Pelagius, an opponent of the blessed one. Augustine (IV-V centuries).

In the 5th century, approximately when St. Patrick (St. Patrick) began his mission among the Irish (about 432), and the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain began. It was from this time that the British-Roman general Arthur defended his lands, who later turned into the legendary king, host of the Round Table. The British, slowly retreating into Cornwall, Wales and Ireland under the pressure of uninvited guests, hated the pagan Angles and Saxons to such an extent that they did nothing to evangelize them. St. Patrick complained that his efforts to educate the Irish were greatly hampered by hostile British clergy. He even had to write a letter of formal protest to the Christian ruler Corotius, whose soldiers had captured a group of Christian converts and sold them into slavery. It was not until 597 that Pope Gregory the Great began a serious mission among the Anglo-Saxons.

Very little is also known about the beginning of Christianity in Egypt. According to the found fragments of papyrus, in the 2nd century. the mission advanced far up the Nile. From the very beginning, Egyptian Christianity was somewhat ascetic in nature with a flavor of encratism. The apocryphal Gospel of the Egyptians, parts of which were found on papyrus fragments, states that marriage is incompatible with Christian perfection.

At the end of the 2nd century. in Clement of Alexandria we find mention of the foundation Alexandria Church St. Mark, disciple of St. Peter (cf. 1 Pet. 5:13). This is perhaps a sign of the Alexandrian community's early connections with Rome, and perhaps Egyptian Christianity became somewhat prominent as a result of the Roman mission around 150, at a time when the Roman Church was fighting tooth and nail with the Marcionites and Valentinians . Another fact testifies to her close ties with the West: according to the papyri found, the book of St. Irenaeus became known in Egypt just a few years after it was written. This shows the concern of local Christians for the preservation of Orthodoxy in Egypt. However, right up to Clement of Alexandria and Origen, the nature of Egyptian Christianity remains unclear, and we can only make more or less probable assumptions about it.

Roman province Africa, i.e. The coastal strip around the ancient Phoenician city of Carthage, culturally and economically connected to Europe, was Christianized in the 2nd century. The first evidence of Christianity in Africa is the Latin acts of martyrs in Numidia, dating back to 180. It is obvious that Christianity came there much earlier. In 200 Tertullian testifies to the deep Christianization of the entire region. In his writings we find references to churches in Africa Proconsularis (Northern Tunisia), in Byzacene (Southern Tunisia), in Numidia and Mauritania (Algeria). It was by the time of Tertullian that Christianity in Africa was very widespread. Let us again remember his famous words: “We have existed only since yesterday, and yet we have filled everything that is yours: cities, islands, fortresses, municipalities, camps, tribes, curiae, palace, senate, forum. We left you nothing except your temples..."

The origins of the first missionaries are unknown to us. Rome was closest to Carthage, and the connections of early African Christians with the capital were very active, although not always friendly. But Carthage conducted brisk trade with the Middle East, so the missionaries could well have come from there.

In 200, many African Christians were Greek-speaking, with slightly different liturgical practices than their Latin brethren. It is very likely that it was in Africa that the first translations of the Gospel into Latin. Most likely, common (vulgar) Latin was used for these translations. Apparently, the Bible was not translated at once, but in pieces in different places when circumstances forced it. All these translations were collected together by 400, when the first officially recognized Latin Bible appeared. Its official status is also proven by the fact that the Vulgate of St. Jerome (see below) was met with hostility by African Christians.

About the Church in Spain, in addition to the supposed journey of St. Paul, we know only from the references of St. Irenaeus and Tertullian. St. Cyprian mentions churches in the main cities of the province: Leon, Astorga, Merida and Zaragoza. At the beginning of the 4th century. From the canons of the Council of Elvira we learn about the widespread expansion of the Church in Spain and about the serious moral problems of many of its members. Bishop Hosius of Corduba, who headed the council, later became Constantine’s church adviser and one of the most influential theologians of his time.

Even the Christians themselves marveled at the speed and breadth of the spread of their faith. But the increase in the number of Christians inevitably brought new problems and temptations to the Church.

Introduction 3

1. The emergence of Christianity 4

2. The spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire 8

3. The division of Christian churches and their worldwide spread 11

Conclusion 24

References 25

Introduction

Christianity has come a long way before it became a world religion and the spiritual basis of European culture. It originated in the 1st century AD, which we count from the Nativity of Christ, and was initially formed in the bosom of Judaism, as one of its sects. But the content of the sermon of Jesus of Nazareth went far beyond the national religion of the ancient Jews. It was this universal meaning of Christianity that made Jesus the Christ (Savior, Messiah) in the eyes of millions of people who find the semantic basis of their lives in the Christian faith.

Reading the Gospels (Good News), you are amazed not only by the amazing wisdom, but also by the figurative brightness of the Gospel sermons, imbued with a single spiritual meaning. This meaning goes far beyond rational thinking and therefore its interpretation subsequently caused fierce controversy. But one can hardly deny the internal unity of the sermons of the Gospel Jesus and at the same time their unity with his destiny, his way of the cross.

1. The emergence of Christianity

Christianity arose in Palestine in the 1st century. n. e. The undoubted closeness of early Christianity to the Jewish community of the Essenes is evidenced by the Scrolls found in 1947 in the Dead Sea area. The commonality of ideological principles among the Essenes and the original Christians can be traced in messianism - the expectation of the imminent coming of the Teacher of Righteousness, in eschatological ideas, in the interpretation of the idea of ​​​​human sinfulness, in rituals, in the organization of communities and attitudes towards property (4, p. 136).

The relatively rapid spread of Christianity in the Asia Minor provinces of the Roman Empire and Rome itself was due to a number of socio-historical factors. The emerging crisis of the ancient order gave rise to general uncertainty about the future, a feeling of apathy and hopelessness. Antagonism intensified not only between slaves and freemen, but also between Roman citizens and provincial subjects, between the Roman hereditary nobility and the enriched horsemen. As a clear and understandable form of social protest against inhumane social orders, Christianity quickly turned into a powerful ideological current that no force could stop.

The Roman religion, like various religious teachings of the East, could not give comfort to the disadvantaged and, due to its national character, did not allow the idea of ​​universal justice, equality, and salvation to be affirmed (1, p. 211). Christianity first of all proclaimed the equality of all people as sinners. It rejected the existing slave-owning social order and thereby gave rise to hope for deliverance from oppression and enslavement of desperate people. It called for the reconstruction of the world, thereby expressing the real interests of the disenfranchised and enslaved. It finally gave the slave consolation, the hope of gaining freedom in a simple and understandable way - through the knowledge of the divine truth that Christ brought to earth to forever atone for all human sins and vices.

Christian apologetics claims that, unlike all other religions of the world, Christianity was not created by people, but was given to humanity by God in a ready-made and complete form. However, the comparative history of religious teachings indicates that Christianity is not free from religious, philosophical, ethical and other influences.

Christianity assimilated and rethought the previous ideological concepts of Judaism, Mithraism, ancient Eastern religions, and philosophical views. All this enriched and cemented the new religion, turning it into a powerful cultural and intellectual force, capable of opposing itself to all national-ethnic cults and turning into a mass supranational movement. The assimilation by early Christianity of the previous religious and cultural heritage did not at all turn it into a conglomerate of disparate ideas, but contributed to a fundamentally new teaching gaining universal recognition (6).

The Neoplatonism of Philo of Alexandria (c. 25 BC - c. 50 AD) and the moral teaching of the Roman Stoic Seneca (c. 4 BC - 65 AD) had a particularly noticeable influence on the foundations of Christian doctrine. ). Philo combined the concept of Logos in the biblical tradition, interpreted as the creative word, comprehended in revelation, and in the Hellenistic tradition, which considers Logos as an internal law directing the movement of the Cosmos. Philo's Logos is the sacred Word that allows one to contemplate Existence. There is no other way to know God, only through the Logos - the Word. Philo’s teaching about the innate sinfulness of all people, about repentance, about Being as the beginning of the world, about ecstasy as a means of approaching God, about logoi, among which the Son of God - the highest Logos and other logoi, called angels - served as one of the ideological prerequisites for Christian ideas about the hierarchy of spiritual principles had a significant influence on the formation of Christianity.

The moral teaching of Christianity, especially about the achievement of virtue, is close to the views of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Seneca considered the main thing for every person to be the achievement of freedom of spirit through the awareness of divine necessity. If freedom does not flow from divine necessity, it will turn out to be slavery. Only obedience to fate gives rise to equanimity of spirit, conscience, moral standards, universal human values. The affirmation of universal human values ​​does not depend on state requirements, but entirely on sociability. By sociability, Seneca understands the recognition of the unity of human nature, mutual love, universal compassion, the care of each person for others like him, regardless of social status. Seneca recognized as a moral imperative " golden rule morality,” which sounded like this: “Treat those below you as you would like to be treated by those above you” (4, p. 139). A similar formulation is contained in the Gospel of Matthew: “And so in everything as If you want people to do to you, do so to them" (Matthew 7:12).

Christianity was consonant with Seneca’s principles about the transience and deceitfulness of sensual pleasures, caring for other people, self-restraint in the use of material goods, preventing rampant passions that are destructive for society and people, modesty and moderation in everyday life. He was also impressed by the principles of individual ethics formulated by Seneca. Personal salvation presupposes a strict assessment of one’s own life, self-improvement, and the acquisition of divine mercy.

The assimilation by Christianity of various elements of Eastern cults and Hellenistic philosophy did not impoverish, but enriched the new religion. That is why it relatively quickly entered the general flow of Mediterranean culture (4, p. 141).

As long as Christianity has existed, debates have continued about the identity of its founder. The stories of Jesus Christ, described in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as in the letters and acts of the apostles, about God the Son, who came into the world in the form of a perfect man to take upon himself the sins of people and save them for eternal life, raised a lot of doubts. Ultimately, the debate about Jesus Christ led to the formation of two main schools - mythological and historical.

Representatives of the mythological school believe that science does not have reliable data about Jesus Christ as a historical figure. The gospel stories about him, written many years after the events described in them, do not contain a real historical basis. In addition, historical sources from the beginning of the 1st century. they say nothing about such extraordinary events as the resurrection from the dead, about the miracles performed by Christ, about his preaching activities. One of the important arguments in favor of its point of view, the mythological school considered the non-Palestinian origin of Christianity, as well as the presence of analogies with legends about gods being born, dying and resurrecting in other Eastern cultures, the presence in the Gospels large number contradictions, discrepancies, inaccuracies (3).

The second - historical - school considers Jesus Christ to be a real person, a preacher of a new religion, who formulated a number of fundamental ideas that laid the foundation for Christian doctrine. The reality of Jesus is confirmed by the reality of a number of gospel characters, such as John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, and others directly related to Christ in the gospel plot. Science now has a number of sources at its disposal that confirm the conclusions of the historical school. Thus, for a long time, the fragment about Jesus Christ contained in the Antiquities of Josephus was considered a later interpolation. However, the Arabic text of “Antiquities” found in 1971 in Egypt, written by the Egyptian bishop Agapius in the 10th century, gives every reason to believe that Flavius ​​described one of the preachers known to him named Jesus, although Flavius’ description does not speak of those committed by Christ miracles and his resurrection is described not as a fact, but as one of many stories on this topic.

Representatives of both the mythological and historical schools made significant contributions to the publication of biblical texts, as well as other sources dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. In recent years, most religious scholars share the opinion of representatives of the historical school.

2. The spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire

By the middle of the 1st century. In Christianity, many different trends clearly emerged that were in heated debate with each other and with external ideological competitors. Early Christian communities did not know the dogma and cult of later Christianity. The communities did not have special places for worship, did not know the sacraments or icons. The only thing that was common to all communities and all factions was the belief in a voluntary atoning sacrifice made once and for all for the sins of all people by a mediator between God and man.

With the growth of Christian cosmopolitanism and the formation of basic dogmatic ideas, the process of moving away from and breaking with Judaism intensified. By the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd century, especially after the defeat of the Jewish uprisings against Rome and the isolation of Judaism, this gap apparently took final shape (4, p. 154).

The appearance of the clergy dates back to the 2nd century. and is associated with a gradual change social composition early Christian communities. If earlier they united slaves and the free poor, then in the 2nd century. they already included artisans, traders, landowners and even the Roman nobility. The wealthy part of Christians is gradually concentrating in their hands the management of property and the direction of liturgical practice. Officials, first elected for a certain term and then for life, form the clergy. Priests, deacons, bishops, and metropolitans displace charismatics (prophets) and concentrate all power in their hands.

The change in the social composition of communities also determined the evolution of their social orientation. There is an increasing departure from previous democratic tendencies, and the desire for an alliance with the imperial power is becoming more and more insistent. The imperial power, in turn, felt an urgent need to complement the world empire with a world religion. Attempts to transform one of the national religions, in particular the Roman one, into such a religion were unsuccessful. A new religion was needed, understandable to all peoples of the empire. The former persecution of Christianity by the Roman state at the beginning of the 4th century. were replaced by active support for the new religion. Emperor Constantine (c. 285 - 337), with his edict of 324, marked the beginning of the transformation of Christianity into the state religion of the Roman Empire. A year later, in 325, under his chairmanship, the first ecumenical council of Christian churches met in Nicaea, which played an important role in establishing the Christian doctrine (3).

None of the Christian dogmas appeared immediately in a completed form, and after the main dogmas were canonized and the cult, discussions around their content did not stop.

Both before and after the Council of Nicaea, there were intense Christological debates between various groups. The struggle centered around the interpretation of three main dogmas: the trinity of God, the incarnation and the atonement.

The Council of Nicea condemned the teaching of the Alexandrian presbyter Arius (256 - 336), who argued that God the Son is not consubstantial with God the Father. The Council established an understanding of the dogma, according to which God is defined as the unity of three persons (hypostases), where the son, eternally born from the father, is consubstantial with the father, is the true God and an independent person.

At the second - Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (381) not only the Arians, but also numerous other heresies were condemned: Eunomians, Doukhobors, Savelians, Photinians, Appolinarians, etc. Eunomians, for example, refused to consider Christ God, they recognized him only as the highest created being.

At the beginning of the fifth century, a particularly heated debate flared up around the dogma of the incarnation. Part of the clergy, led by the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius (d. c. 450), rejected the prevailing ideas about the birth of Christ from the Virgin Mary. Woman, the Nestorians argued, gave birth to man, not God. And only by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit did divinity move into him, and he became an instrument of salvation. The substantiation and defense of the dogma of the incarnation was given the main attention at the third - Ephesian (431) - ecumenical council, which approved six rules for the protection of this dogma (4, p. 157).

At the fourth - Chalcedon (451) - ecumenical council, the main attention was paid to substantiating the dogma of atonement and incarnation. Led by the Constantinople Archimandrite Eutyches (5th century), the Monophysites (one-naturalists) taught that in Jesus human nature was absorbed by the divine, and therefore recognized in him only one divine nature. The Council approved the dogma of the Incarnation, according to which Christ should be considered both as true God and as true man; eternally born from God the Father according to divinity, he was born from the Virgin Mary according to humanity, divinity and humanity were united in him as a single person, unmerged and unchangeable (against the Monophysites), inseparably and inseparably (against the Nestorians). At the same time, Emperor Marcian issued laws severely punishing everyone who refused to recognize this dogma.

Only in the middle of the 6th century was the dispute over how to depict Jesus Christ resolved; The 82nd rule of the fifth - Constantinople II (553) - ecumenical council obliged to depict the Son of God in human form, and not in the form of a lamb. At the same time, it was required that in the new image the image of Christ should emphasize before the eyes of believers the full height of his humility, obedience, suffering and saving sacrifice.

Discord accompanied the establishment of the Christian cult. In the first centuries, the church categorically prohibited any depiction of saints. Church Council in Elvira at the beginning of the 4th century. established a rule according to which there should be no objects of veneration or worship on the walls. At the end of the 4th century. one of the church writers Eusebius (260-265 - 338-339) considered the use of icons to be idolatry. Against the worship of icons in the 7th century. Nestorians and Monophysites spoke out. Government orders were given prohibiting the use of icons. This dispute was resolved only at the seventh - Nicaea II (787) - ecumenical council. The Council approved the rule, according to which it was considered necessary to depict sacred persons and events and worship them (6, p. 544).

The process of formation of Christian sacraments and rituals directly related to them was even longer. At the end of the 5th century. The sacrament of baptism arose, and even later - the Eucharist (comunion). Then, over the course of several centuries, Christianity gradually introduced confirmation, unction, marriage, repentance and the accompanying confession, and the priesthood.

3. The division of Christian churches and their worldwide spread

Christianity did not represent a single religious movement. Spreading across numerous provinces of the Roman Empire, it adapted to the conditions of each country, to existing social relations and local traditions.

A consequence of the decentralization of the Roman state was the emergence of the first four autocephalous (independent) churches: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Soon the Church of Cyprus and then the Georgian Church separated from the Antiochian Church. Orthodox Church. But the matter was not limited only to the division of Christian churches. Some of them refused to recognize the decisions of the ecumenical councils and the dogma they approved. In the middle of the 5th century. The Armenian clergy did not agree with the condemnation of the Monophysites by the Council of Chalcedon. Thus, the Armenian Church put itself in a special position, accepting a dogma that contradicts the dogma of orthodox Christianity.

One of the largest divisions of Christianity was the emergence of two main directions - Orthodoxy and Catholicism. This split has been brewing for several centuries. It was determined by the peculiarities of the development of feudal relations in the eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire and the competitive struggle between them (4, p. 162).

Orthodoxy. Currently, Orthodoxy is represented by a number of autocephalous (independent) churches: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch (Syria, Lebanon), Jerusalem, Russian, Georgian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Hellenic (Greek), Polish, Romanian, Czechoslovak, American, etc. , there are autonomous Orthodox churches.

The limits of independence of autonomous churches are determined by an agreement with the autocephalous church that granted it autonomy. The heads of autonomous churches are elected by local councils and are subsequently approved by the patriarch of the autocephalous church. Patriarch of Constantinople is considered ecumenical, but is not given the right to interfere in the activities of other Orthodox churches.

Administratively, autocephalous churches are divided into exarchates, dioceses, vicariates, deaneries, and parishes. In addition, a number of autocephalous churches have missions, deaneries, and metochions under other Orthodox churches. All Orthodox churches have common doctrine, cult, and canonical activities.

Eastern Christianity existed in conditions of strong centralization of state power in Byzantium, and the church immediately turned out to be an appendage of the state, and its head was actually the emperor. Western Christianity gradually became an organization that sought to dominate all spheres of society, including the political sphere. The differences between Eastern and Western Christianity were also affected by the peculiarities of the development of spiritual culture.

Greek Christianity focused its attention on ontological, philosophical problems, Western - on legal and legal ones. At the beginning of the 5th century. The Roman Empire split into Eastern and Western. The Eastern was a strong unified state, the Western was a fragmented conglomerate of principalities, soon conquered by the Germans. In the VI century. Constantinople liberated Rome from the barbarians; the latter became dependent on the Byzantine emperors. The Patriarch of Constantinople even began to call himself ecumenical, that is, the head of both the Eastern and Western churches. But the popes managed to turn the church into a noticeable economic force (the acquisition of Sicily and southern Italy) and increase its political prestige.

From the middle of the 7th century. Byzantium was attacked by the Arab Caliphate. The Caliphate captured Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Syria, and the Slavs captured the Balkan Peninsula. Under these conditions, Italy began to free itself from the dependence of Byzantium. Byzantium was weakened by political and ideological contradictions. In the 8th century The Roman Church is freed from the tutelage of Byzantium, and the Papal States are formed. From this period the power of the popes increased (6).

Between Rome and Byzantium in the 9th century. territorial disputes arose. Both churches laid claim to Sicily and Southern Italy. The aggravation of relations was facilitated by the adoption of Christianity by Moravia. Moravia adopted Christianity from Rome. But then, trying to get rid of the papal dictate, in 863 she invited a spiritual mission from Constantinople - Cyril and Methodius.

The Bulgarians refused to accept Christianity from Rome in 865. They were baptized by Byzantine priests. All this intensified the rivalry. The conflict between Rome and Constantinople grew, despite the fact that Byzantium was threatened by the Seljuks and Rome by a new power: the Normans.

Patriarch of Constantinople in the middle of the 11th century. there was Michael Cerullarius (d. 1058), who had previously been tonsured a monk and exiled to the provinces for palace intrigues, but was promoted under the new emperor Constantine, who elevated him to patriarchy, although Cerularius had little understanding of Christian doctrine. In 1053, due to the increase in the number of services according to the Western model, Cerullarius ordered the closure of Roman churches and monasteries in Constantinople. The dispute was over the issues of unleavened bread, “filioque” (Latin filioque - “and the son” - the procession of the holy spirit not only from God the Father, but also from God the Son), celibacy of the clergy, fasting on Saturday, etc. Pope Leo IX sent legates to Constantinople led by Cardinal Humbert. Neither Cerularius nor Humbert sought reconciliation. Cerularius declared the legates heretics. In turn, the legates cursed the Patriarch of Constantinople; On July 16, 1054, the final break between Western and Eastern Christianity occurred (6).

The formation of independent Orthodox churches began in the first centuries of the emergence of Christianity. In the 3rd century. The Alexandria and Antioch churches (Syria, Lebanon) stood out, then the Jerusalem church. In the 5th century The Church of Constantinople acquires a leading position. At the end of the 3rd century. Eastern Christianity was adopted by Armenia in the 4th century. - Georgia, in the 9th century. - Moravia and Bulgaria.

The penetration of Orthodoxy into Kievan Rus began in the middle of the 10th century, but it officially became the state religion in 988. Orthodoxy was a religion that could serve the interests of establishing feudalism. Kievan Rus had closer trade and cultural ties with Byzantium, where Orthodoxy dominated; the grand ducal elite was impressed by the subordination of the church to secular power and the opportunity to perform divine services in their native language.

In the middle of the 10th century. Kievan Rus was a strong feudal state with a high level of development of crafts and trade, spiritual and material culture. Tribal polytheism could not contribute to the strengthening of the new social system, and at the same time the centralized grand-ducal power; it lost the ability to be a social integrator and regulator. All ancient Slavic gods are tailored according to tribal standards. Therefore, the gods of some tribes had no meaning for other tribes. What was needed was the unifying idea of ​​one God. Rus' needed a religion with a single God, devoid of ethnic differences, free from tribal traditions. The Christian God met these requirements.

The need for a new religion was dictated by a number of international reasons. Rus' maintained constant contacts with Byzantium and Western Europe, where Christianity already dominated. To strengthen such contacts, a common ideological platform was also needed: after all, the Russians were considered “barbarians.” The introduction of a new religion corresponded to the needs of social progress.

The role of the Kyiv prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich (d. 1015) is also important. He was an outstanding reformer: he carried out administrative, religious, fiscal, military and other reforms. When accepting Christianity, he showed an understanding of historical necessity, the will to carry out a difficult task, and firmness in overcoming resistance.

After the adoption of Christianity, already under Vladimir’s son Yaroslav the Wise (c. 978 - 1054), a metropolitanate was created in Kyiv, headed by Metropolitan Leonty, sent by a Greek. Yaroslav founded the Cathedral of St. Sofia, Kiev-Pechersk Monastery (1051, from 1598 Lavra). The Russian metropolitanate began to be divided into dioceses headed by bishops - mostly Greeks. Already under Vladimir, the church began to receive “tithes” and soon turned into a major feudal lord. Monasteries appeared that performed colonization, defensive, cultural and other functions.

From the 12th century The church and princes began to fight for independence from Byzantium. In the 15th century Byzantium was on the eve of the loss of independence. In 1589, on the initiative of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1557 - 1598), a local council was convened with the participation of the Eastern patriarchs, at which Metropolitan Job (d. 1607) was elected patriarch. From that time on, the church began to gain greater independence.

A distinctive feature of Orthodoxy is that since the time of the first seven ecumenical councils it has not added a single dogma to its doctrine, unlike Catholicism, and has not abandoned any of them, as was the case in Protestantism. This is precisely what the Orthodox Church considers one of its main merits, testifying to its fidelity to original Christianity. Orthodoxy attaches dogmatic significance not only to one of the most important sacraments - baptism, but also to all others (communion, repentance, priesthood, confirmation, marriage, consecration of oil) and related rites.

Rituals and symbols constitute the content of all liturgical practice or cult. It is necessary to perform a number of rituals: say prayers, make the sign of the cross, bare your head in front of the icon, kneel, listen to teachings, and participate in divine services.

Catholicism. Catholicism is the largest denomination of Christianity. It is predominantly distributed in Western, Southwestern and Central Europe (Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary), Latin America and the USA. Catholicism is professed by part of the population of the Baltic states (in Lithuania, in the southeast of Latvia), as well as the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus (4, p. 164).

The basis of the doctrine of Catholicism is the Holy Tradition. The Catholic Church considers all books included in the Latin translation of the Bible (Vulgate) to be canonical. Only the clergy is given the right to interpret the texts of the Bible. Sacred tradition is formed by the decisions of the 21st council, as well as the judgments of the popes on church and worldly issues.

Following the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and other decisions of the first seven councils, the Catholic Church creates its own understanding of a number of dogmas. At the Council of Toledo in 589, an addition was made to the creed about the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from God the Father, but also from God the Son (lat. filioque - “and son”).

In the salvation of people burdened with original sin, Catholic doctrine assigns a special role to the church. It is designed to help a person compensate for the lost ability to achieve eternal salvation. This mission is carried out with the help of the treasury of supererogatory deeds, that is, the surplus of good deeds performed by Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and the saints. As Christ's vicar on earth, the pope manages this treasury of supererogatory affairs, distributing them among those who need them.

Catholicism recognizes seven sacraments: communion (Eucharist), baptism, penance, confirmation, unction, priesthood and marriage. The sacrament of baptism is carried out by pouring water, while in Orthodoxy only by immersion in water. The sacrament of anointing (confirmation) is performed upon reaching the age of seven or eight.

In addition to the recognition of the existence of heaven and hell, common to Christian movements, the Catholic Church formulated the doctrine of purgatory - an intermediate place where the souls of sinners are purified by going through severe trials. The dogma of purgatory was adopted by the Council of Florence in 1439 and confirmed in 1562 by the Council of Trent.

Catholicism is characterized by sublime veneration of the Mother of God - the Virgin Mary. In 1854, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary was adopted, and in 1950, the dogma of the bodily ascension of the Mother of God was adopted, according to which the Most Holy Theotokos, Ever-Virgin, was taken to heaven “with soul and body for heavenly glory.” In 1954, a special holiday dedicated to the “Queen of Heaven” was established. In Catholicism, the cult of angels, saints, icons, relics is preserved, canonization (canonization) and beatification (raise to the rank of blessed) are carried out. The center of religious and ritual rituals is the temple, decorated with paintings and sculptures on religious themes.

The head of the Catholic Church, the vicar of Jesus Christ, the supreme ruler of the Vatican State is the Pope. The special status of the popes is justified by their inheritance of the power transferred by Jesus Christ to the Apostle Peter, according to church tradition former first Bishop of Rome. The pope is elected for life by a conclave of cardinals. According to the dogma of the Catholic Church, adopted by Vatican Council I in 1870, the pope is considered infallible in matters of faith and morals.

The international center of the Roman Catholic Church and the residence of the Pope is located in the Vatican. The Vatican State (area 44 hectares, about 1 thousand citizens) has its own coat of arms, flag, anthem, guard, and maintains diplomatic relations with more than 100 countries of the world. There are over 400 thousand priests in the Catholic Church. The special duties of the Catholic clergy include celibacy. An important position in the Catholic Church belongs to monasticism, organized in congregations and brotherhoods. Currently, there are about 140 monastic orders, whose activities are led by the Vatican Congregation for Sanctified Life and.

Protestantism. Emergence Protestantism arose as a result of the Reformation (lat. reformatio - transformation, correction) - a movement in a number of European countries aimed at transforming the church in the spirit of evangelical ideals and eliminating everything that in medieval Catholicism the reformers saw as a departure from these ideals. In England XIV - XV centuries. "Lollards" - "poor priests" - preached the teachings of Oxford University professor John Wycliffe (1320 - 1384), who demanded the subordination of the English Church in civil matters to the king. Wyclif opposed the extortions of the popes from England, rejected the material nature of “transubstantiation,” doubted the right of the hierarchy to forgive sins and issue indulgences, and insisted on the priority of Holy Scripture over church tradition. Wycliffe's ideas influenced the views of Prague University professor Jan Hus (1369-1415), who preached the church's renunciation of wealth and the sale of indulgences. The burning of Huss at the stake on July 6, 1415, according to the verdict of the Council of Constance, caused outrage in the Czech Republic (4).

The priority of the Holy Scriptures over tradition and the demand for communion for the laity not only with bread, but also with wine became the ideological foundations of the powerful national movement of the Hussites. The five crusades waged against them from 1420 to 1431 were defeated. Therefore, the Basel Council concluded an agreement with the moderate Hussites on November 30, 1433 and allowed the laity in the Czech Republic to receive communion under both types.

In the Hussite movement, a contradiction emerged that was significant for the further development of the Reformation, reflecting the heterogeneity of the social base of this movement. The nobility and wealthy townspeople sought to secularize church properties. They interpreted the requirement to adhere to the Holy Scriptures in the spirit of preserving everything in dogma, ritual and life that did not directly contradict the Bible. This moderate reformist group was called “Chashniki” (“Kallikstinians”). Supporters of the radical group, whose social base were the peasantry and the urban poor, demanded unconditional adherence to the Holy Scriptures and the abolition of everything that was not confirmed by its text. They were called "Taborites" - after the name of the city of Tabor, which they founded on a hill on which sermons were held and which was called Tabor ("Tabor") Mountain. The Taborites rejected the dogmas of transubstantiation, purgatory, the doctrine of the intercession of saints, eliminated the veneration of icons and relics, luxury in worship, and put forward a demand for religious tolerance. The defeat of the Taborites in 1434 in the battle against the united forces of the Catholic nobility and the Chashniki, the abolition of the agreement with the Hussites by Pope Pius II in 1462 did not stop the movement of peasants and townspeople for the transformation of the church, which culminated in the era of the Reformation in the 16th - 17th centuries.

The trade in indulgences was the reason for the speech of the German theologian M. Luther (1483-1546), professor at the University of Wittenberg; On October 31, 1517, he nailed 95 theses on the remission of sins to the door of the church in Wittenberg. In them, Luther put forward the principle of internal repentance, which should become the whole life of a Christian, and criticized the doctrine of indulgences, purgatory, prayer for the dead and salvation through the merits of the saints. Subsequently, M. Luther rejected papal authority, the special grace of the priesthood and its mediation in salvation, and put forward a demand to simplify rituals and subordinate the church to the sovereigns.

All this met the interests of the burghers and part of the nobility, who, under the leadership of M. Luther and his associate F. Malankhton (1497 - 1560), formed the moderate direction of the German Reformation. The peasant-plebeian strata, led by T. Münzer (1490-1525), also joined the reform movement in Germany.

Adopted by the Anabaptists (from the Greek anabaptizo - I immerse again), who demanded the secondary baptism of adults into the faith and advocated a free church, Münzer's teaching about the "Kingdom of God on earth" was a dream of a society without private property. The centers of the Reformation in Switzerland were the cities of Zurich and Geneva, where W. Zwingli (1484 - 1531) and J. Calvin (1509 - 1564) carried out a radical transformation of the church structure. Some sovereigns were also interested in the reform, dissatisfied with the concentration of land holdings and wealth in the church, the payment of large sums of money to the popes and their interference in politics. A group of German princes carried out evangelical reforms in their dominions. In 1529, they declared a “protest” against the abolition by the Speyer Reichstag of the right to decide the question of the religion of their subjects, which they achieved in 1526. The origin of the term “Protestantism” is connected with this event, which began to be used to designate a set of Christian denominations genetically related to the Reformation (3).

Lutheranism. Churches, later called Lutheran or Evangelical, took shape in the northern German principalities. Lutheranism recognizes the authority of the Apostolic and Nicene-Constantinople Creed, and has its own doctrinal books - the Augsburg Confession (1530), the catechisms of M. Luther, the Book of Concord (1580). Lutheranism retains the episcopate, special ordination, liturgy, and two sacraments: baptism (of infants) and communion. Back in 1526, the “German Mass and the Follow-up of Divine Services” was created, and a prayer book with the ritual of baptism was translated into German. There are no icons in Lutheran churches, but the crucifix, clergy vestments and altar are preserved.

Lutheranism is influential in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and the USA. Currently, about 75 million people belong to it out of a total of 408 million Protestants. In 1947, the Lutheran World Union was created, which is supported by about 50 million believers.

Calvinism. The most consistent embodiment of democratic demands was found in Zwinglianism and Calvinism, which in mid-16th century V. merged into the Swiss Reformed Church. Unlike Lutheranism, Reformation does not have a universally binding creed; the Bible is considered the only source of doctrine. The number of religious documents is not limited. Authoritative for theologians and preachers remain the “Instructions in the Christian Faith” (1536 - 1559), written by J. Calvin, which systematizes the ideas of M. Luther and other reformers, “Church Establishments” (1541), “Geneva Catechism” (1545), and also "Scottish Confession" (1560), "Westminster Confession of Faith" (1547), etc.

The Reformed rejected almost all the external attributes of the cult (icons, candles, cross). Baptism and communion are considered symbolic rites. The sermon is the central element of the worship service, which also includes the singing of psalms and prayers. Great value in the Calvinist doctrine there is a doctrine of predestination, election, according to which God chose some to eternal bliss, others to destruction. A person is saved because he is chosen for salvation and receives the gift of faith and is born again.

The doctrine of predestination was repeatedly softened by Calvinist theologians. Theologians of the major Reformed churches now interpret predestination as the omniscient foreknowledge of man's destiny by God, and that justification cannot be influenced by works but must be regarded as the result of grace.

Religions based on Calvinism were adopted by Protestants in France (Huguenots), the Netherlands, and in some areas of Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Calvinist ideas played a significant role among Protestants in England, who demanded

radical "cleansing" (hence the Puritans) of the English church, they won a dominant position in Scotland. Calvinists in Scotland and England advocated the abolition of the episcopate. Presbyterian congregations are led by elected elders and pastors who make up consistories and presbyteries, as well as regional, provincial and national synods or assemblies. An even more radical church reform was carried out by Congregationalists, who considered the local community (congregation) to be an independent church with the right to its own confession of faith.

The desire for unification, which has intensified in Protestantism since the end of the 19th century, led to the formation of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches adhering to the Presbyterian structure (1875), and the International Congregational Council (1891). There are about 40 million Presbyterians and 3 million Congregationalists in the world. There are especially many followers of Calvinism in Switzerland, Holland, England, Scotland, Germany, the USA, Canada, and Australia.

Conclusion

So, to summarize the work, we note the following key points.

Christianity arose in Palestine in the 1st century. n. e. The relatively rapid spread of Christianity in the Asia Minor provinces of the Roman Empire and Rome itself was due to a number of socio-historical factors.

Christianity assimilated and rethought the previous ideological concepts of Judaism, Mithraism, ancient Eastern religions, and philosophical views. All this enriched and cemented the new religion, turning it into a powerful cultural and intellectual force, capable of opposing itself to all national-ethnic cults and turning into a mass supranational movement.

Christianity formed new meanings of nature and human existence. These meanings were based on the justification of human creativity and freedom, which could not but affect the entire European history. Of course, at first Christian freedom was realized mainly in the spiritual and moral sphere. But then it found a practical field for its implementation and began to be expressed in the transformation of nature and society, in the construction of the foundations of a legal state that respects human rights and freedoms. The very idea of ​​inalienable human rights and freedoms could only appear in Christian culture. Christianity formed new meanings of nature and human existence, which stimulated the development of new art and became the basis of natural science and humanitarian knowledge.

References

1. Vasiliev L.S. History of the religions of the East. M., 2004.

2. Komissarova E.Ya. Religion and culture. – Magnitogorsk: MGPI, 1994.

3. Men A. History of religions. – M.: Eksmo, 2003.

4. Religious Studies / Ed. I.N. Yablokov. – M.: Gardarika, 1998.

5. Khachaturyan V.M. History of world civilizations. - M.: Bustard, 1998.

6. Christianity. Dictionary. M., 2002.

7. Yakovlev E.G. World religions. M., 1995.

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Spread of Christianity in the world

christianity state religion

The birth of Christianity. Build, fork the faith

In the second half of the 1st century and in the first half of the 2nd century, Christianity represented a number of communities consisting of slaves, freedmen, and artisans. In the second half of the 2nd century, Christian writers already noted the presence of noble and wealthy people in the communities. One of the important elements of the transition of Christianity to a fundamentally new level was its break with Judaism in the 2nd century. After this, the percentage of Jews in Christian communities began to steadily decrease. At the same time, Christians abandoned the Old Testament laws. Expansion of Christianity and involvement in Christian communities large quantity people of very different faiths led to the fact that Christianity of this period was not a single church, but a huge number of directions, groupings, and theological schools. The situation was getting more complicated a large number heresies, the number of which by the end of the 2nd century, the church historian of the end of the 4th century, Philastrius, estimates at 156. In the second half of the 3rd century, a process of further centralization of the church took place, and by the beginning of the 4th century, several metropolises emerged from the existing dioceses, each of which united a group of dioceses. Naturally, large church centers were created in the most important political centers of the empire, primarily in the capitals.

At the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. At this time, the church organization is strengthened and the church hierarchy is formalized, the highest and most privileged part of which is the episcopate. The emerging church organization, headed by influential bishops who constantly maintained contact with each other and gathered for their congresses (councils), grew into a major political force in the Roman Empire.

Strengthening Faith in the Roman Empire

The imperial power, sensing a dangerous rival in it, tried to destroy it in the context of a fierce class struggle during the crisis in the 3rd century. Emperor Decius (249-251) began persecuting Christians. Persecution continued under Valerian (253-260), and intensified significantly under Diocletian (284-305). The persecution did not break the Christian church organization, and its ineffectiveness showed that the new religion had a significant mass base. As the imperial power learned the essence of Christian ideology, the nature and meaning church activities, she became increasingly convinced that Christianity is a force that is capable of sanctifying the power of rulers and ensuring the obedience of the masses. Therefore, the empire gradually moves from attempts to break the church organization that seemed dangerous to it to a policy aimed at putting this organization into its service. At the beginning of the 4th century, when a fierce struggle for imperial power unfolded, the importance of the Christian Church increased even more. This was taken into account by Emperor Constantine I, who switched to a policy of relying on the church. Christianity was declared an officially permitted religion, and property previously confiscated for the benefit of the treasury was returned to the church.

Thus, the beginning of the transformation of Christianity into the state religion was laid; in the world empire a world religion was established. In 325, the emperor convened the first “Ecumenical Council” (Nicaea), consisting of representatives of the church elite. At the cathedral, the “Creed” was developed - a brief statement of the main dogmas of the Christian religion. At the council, the union of the church with the imperial power was formalized. The Church recognized the emperor as its head, the representative of Christ on earth. Soon after the death of Constantine (in 337), he was distinguished by extreme cruelty, staining himself with many murders, incl. After killing his son, wife and many relatives, the church declared him a saint. During his lifetime, Constantine himself did not break with paganism. An attempt under one of Constantine’s successors, Emperor Julian (361 - 363), who received the nickname “Apostate” from Christians, to return to paganism was not successful: the time of the ancient religions of the ancient world had irrevocably passed. Emperor Theodosius I (379-395) ordered the closure of pagan temples. 3. Propagation of faith in the World.

Attempts to accept faith by Goths and Vandals

In 375, the Gothic king Vinitarius unexpectedly attacked the Ant Slavs, executing their leader Busa with his sons and 70 elders. The painful execution of the Slavs was more like a sacrifice. They were crucified. As for Christian vandals, their religious fanaticism even entered into everyday speech - vandalism. They proved their Christianity by the ruthless destruction of Roman pagan culture. In 496 the Franks converted to Christianity according to the Roman model. Their king, Clovis, was also baptized with him and 3,000 soldiers. The adoption of the new faith did not tame the morals of the Franks. Clovis nevertheless continued to exterminate his rivals. Long decades of fratricidal wars between the Goths and Franks exhausted these related Germanic tribes. Kagal created such a complicated religion that it seemed specifically designed to give rise to currents fighting among themselves, involving other nations in bloody wars.

Acceptance of Faith by Greater Armenia

At the beginning of the 4th century<#"justify">The arrival of faith in Northern Scotland

In 560 Christianity came to Northern Scotland. Around the same time, it was accepted by pawnshop residents of Northern Italy, and on the shores of Leman - Lake Geneva - the Christian state of Burgundy arose.

In 598, the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelbert of Kent converted to Christianity and chose Canterbury as his capital.

Acceptance of faith in some countries of northern Europe

In 630, Flanders (the old name of Belgium) and the Netherlands joined the Christian world, a little later - Bavaria.

In the 8th century, English monasteries began to produce zealous preachers of Christianity who went to the European mainland. One of them was Bishop Boniface, the founder of the first monasteries in Germany. In Hesse, he personally cut down the oak tree of the god Wotan, “to show the powerlessness of the demon.” The majority accepted the Christian god, but recognized only his primacy over others and secretly continued to honor their gods. Carried away by his zeal to spread the Christian faith, Boniface eventually played out. At the age of 75, he went to preach Christianity in the Frisian country (northeast Holland). In the tent where he was waiting for converts, he was overtaken by pagans hostile to him and finished him off in 755. But in the 9th century, baptism spread to all of Germany.

A little earlier, Christianity established itself in Franconia (the region of the eastern Franks).

In 772, King Charles began converting the North German Saxon tribe to Christianity. They steadfastly clung to paganism, protecting their independence in it. Kakrl began by cutting down the huge Irmensul tree, which the pagans called “the support of the universe.” The Saxons, scattered across regions and villages, did not offer resistance while the Frankish army was in their country. But as soon as Charles left, they destroyed churches and expelled bishops.

Both heirs of Rome - the Christian empire of Charles and Byzantium continued the Christianization of freedom-loving peoples. King Charles was called the “Great” by the church because, invading foreign lands of the Danube and Baltic Slavs, he exterminated them without exception, sparing no one: neither women, nor children, nor the elderly. The very nature of the attack was similar to the Old Testament punitive wars. Throughout his life, Charles made more than 50 campaigns, of which only 2 ended in defeat. The Velet tribe became especially famous in the fight against Christians. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian II destroyed the independent Slavic state of Sclavinia in the Balkans.

In 860, the Greek Askold baptized the first Russians in Kyiv. But Christianity has not yet become widespread in Kyiv and its environs. In 882, after the “baptism of Rus'”, the “de-baptism of Rus'” took place. It is known that Svyatoslav’s mother, Princess Olga, was a Christian. And Askold, and Dir, and Olga - all were baptized in Byzantium. However, a new faith had not yet arisen in Rus'.

Spread of religion in the Balkans

In 863, the Moravian prince Rostislav was baptized. Moravia was filled with “enlighteners.” Following Rostislav, Christianity spread to the Czech lands, where Borzhivoy reigned.

In 864, there was a crop failure in Bulgaria. Diseases leading to pestilence were added to famine. The helpful Byzantines convinced the Bulgarian Tsar Boris that the famine occurred “for sins.” And to reinforce their words, in order to further convince the king to accept the “light of true teaching,” they brought their troops into the country and forced the Bulgarians to be baptized.

In the late 60s of the 9th century, Christianity spread to Serbia and Croatia. By the 10th century, the Black Croats, Horutans (Slovenians), Taurian Rus, as well as the Don Slavs were subjugated to Christianity.

Establishment of Faith in Poland

In Poland, Christianity was established in 966 under Prince Mieszko I (963-992). While Poland remained a pagan country, it flourished. Having converted to Christianity under Pope John XIII (965-972), she fell into poverty. Mieszko ordered the destruction of the idols that he had so fervently worshiped before, confiscated the property of his subjects who continued to stubbornly defend the old faith, and ordered some of them to be sent to the stake. This fanatic, an obedient instrument in the hands of the high priest, donated considerable sums to the Holy See for the construction of new churches. Unhappy Poland was plundered, plundered, and ruined in the name of the interests of the Roman court. Prince Mieszko divided the Slavs into Western and Eastern. Polish lands came under the protection of the Pope.

Baptism of Rus'

In 988, Prince Vladimir began his long-planned goal - the baptism of Rus'. For the fourth time, starting with Askold. In the “Church Charter of St. Vladimir” of 989, punishment was provided for the wise men and witches - burning at the stake. The very nature of Christianization and Vladimir’s punitive campaigns again resembled the Old Testament genocide.

Introduction of the faith in Norway and Sweden

In Norway, Christianity was spread by King Tryggvi. His son, and later king Olaf Trygvesson (997-1000), will continue his father’s work. The first wave of baptism did not produce results. Everywhere attempts to introduce a new religion were resolutely rejected by the people. The Norwegian king Hakon the Good, who ruled in the middle of the 10th century, offered to be baptized and was decisively refused by us, we will abandon you and choose another leader who will rule us in such a way that we can freely profess the faith that we want. "Olaf Trygvesson by force of arms introduces Christianity and humbles the people.

In Sweden, Christianity was adopted by King Olof Skötkonung in 1008; it was finally established only in 1248, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained generally pagan until the end of the 14th century.

The Western and Eastern churches acted independently and independently of each other. The Western one drew into its circle of influence all the Roman and Germanic peoples, including the Slavs - Croats, Czechs and Poles. Eastern - Bulgarians, Serbs and Russians. Between these large areas there remained a small area that Christians had not reached - the lands lying east of the Baltic Sea, between the lower Vistula and the Gulf of Finland. There were pagan Finnish Estonian tribes and Lithuanian-Latvian tribes. But after 1200 Christianization overtook them too.